


Jumping Waves

by Bolt41319



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, OQonHolidaysWeek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 00:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15740631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolt41319/pseuds/Bolt41319
Summary: When you're 6 and you can't swim, waterparks aren't as fun as they should be.DimplesQueen For #OQonHolidaysWeekPrompt #26 - Regina teaches Roland how to swim.





	Jumping Waves

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #26- Regina teaches Roland how to swim

He’s grumpy, even though Mama said holiday’s are for fun. But he can’t help it, this isn’t fun. 

He just feels grumpy. He’s met Grumpy before, and he was nice, but sometimes he was mean. Roland doesn’t feel mean though, just a little angry, and kind of sad. 

He doesn’t like being the littlest one all the time. Being the littlest means that he has different  _ rules _ and no one likes rules. Papa always used to say “rules are meant to be broken”, but usually when he says that Mama gets grumpy; and when Mama is grumpy everyone needs to hide. 

But when Roland’s grumpy, he can’t throw fireballs like his Mama or shoot arrows like his Papa can. Instead, he gets to sit in a little pool with his arms crossed, while Henry and Papa go in the big pool with all the waves and swim. 

All the other little kids are in the little pool with him, but they’re having fun because they have friends there, or siblings that are little like them. But Roland’s friends are all back in Storybrooke, and his brother is so  _ tall _ and he knows how to swim, so he gets to go in the big pool. Which means Roland gets to sit, and be grumpy. 

He knows his Mama see’s him. She’s sitting on the edge of the pool, talking to Mrs. Mary Margaret on her phone real quick. She promised she would be right back, and if his Mama see’s him being grumpy then she’s going to ask why, and he doesn’t want to tell her why. He’s not very good at talking about his feelings. His teacher told them about feelings in school, and how feelings are okay, but he doesn’t feel okay. 

When he sees his Mama walking back, he tries to smile, and splashes his hands around in the water a little bit. He wants to look like the other kids, like he’s having fun like them, but he’s not. 

And she notices.

“Roland, baby, what’s wrong?”

He shakes his head and smiles up at her. “I’m having fun, see?”

She smiles like she does when she pretends she isn’t going to tickle him, but then she does. It’s one of his Mama’s favorite smiles, because he knows that means she’s going to play with him. She pulls him up out of the water and sets him in her lap, and now he knows she “means business.” He didn’t know what that meant, because business is what her and his Papa do when they go to work, and how can you  _ mean work _ but she said it means it’s serious. 

He didn’t think holidays were supposed to be serious, but she looks serious. Sometimes he’s scared when she’s serious, so he hides his face in her arm and mumbles his problem. “Mama, I can’t swim.” 

Her hug helps, and he buries himself into her lap. He knows he’s going to cry, he always cries because he’s little, but he wants to be a big boy too, so he sniffles up his tears and looks up at her. 

“Oh, honey” she wipes his tears, so more start to fall. 

“I- I want to go in the big pool with Daddy and Henry but-” now he’s really crying, and he’s mad at himself. He didn’t want to cry, but now he is and so he cries more and more and the his nose is all runny so his sniffles won’t stop. “I don’t know how to swim and so I can’t go play with them. And I like playing with you, but-” he hiccups again and wipes his face with his little hands. “I want to play as a family.” 

His Mama’s hug makes him feel a little more better, and she’s whispering for him to not cry so he tries to stop, but it isn’t  _ fair _ that everyone else is bigger and he’s stuck in the baby pool. 

“How about I teach you how to swim? And then you and I can go in the wave pool with Daddy and Henry.” 

He likes that idea, so he nods and tells her okay. He’s still a little sad though, so his Mama picks him up and lets him eat his snack before they go to the pool for kids that are a little bigger than him, but not as big as Henry. She’s making him wear the puffy things on his arms though, so now he can’t put them down  _ and _ he looks silly. 

“Mama I don’t like these” he grumbles. “I look like a penguin.” 

She smiles again at him, that pretty Mama smile that helps him know it’ll all be okay. “I know you don’t, which is why you and I were in the splash pool. But if you want to go with Daddy and Henry, ou have to wear them. Deal?”

“Deal” he nods. “How do you swim?”

The first thing she shows him is how to float, but she doesn’t call it float. He’s wearing floaties, though, which he thinks is a funny word. But she says before he knows how to swim, he has to  _ tread water _ . And he is good at threading water. 

“Mama look!” He keeps moving his legs like she showed him, and his head is still above the water. “I’m threading water!”

“I am so proud of you! But say it right, baby. Treading.”

Right. Treading, not threading. He’s got this. 

The next thing she shows him is how to go underwater, and he gets to take his floaties off for this, so his Mama holds him. 

“When you’re ready, I want you go under and blow bubbles with your nose, okay? But make sure you don’t breathe in.” 

“Got it” he says, and dunks his head right under. He can feel the bubbles coming out of his nose, which makes him want to giggle, but he can’t because then water will get in his mouth.

She lifts him up out of the water with a cheer, and he laughs really loud. 

“Mama, I was kind of scared before, but I think I like swimming.”

She presses a bunch of kisses to his cheeks, and it makes him wiggle in her arms like a worm. “You’ve got one more thing to learn, Roland. Are you ready?”

“Super ready” he nods. 

Now, he has to move his arms  _ and _ his feet. They put his floaties back on, and she lets him tread water some more. He doesn’t like it, though, when she backs away from him in the water. “Wait, no- Mama come back.”

“No, honey, this is next. I want you to come to me. Use your arms and your legs, and swim to me.”

He can do this.

If he does this, they get to play in the big wave pool as a family, and he loves playing as a family. 

If he does this, his Papa and Henry and Mama will be so  _ proud _ , and maybe they can go get ice cream. 

He keeps thinking and thinking about all the things he wants to do, and how he’s so proud of himself for learning how to swim. His teacher said that being proud is a good thing, and he’s allowed to be proud of himself, so he is. 

And then he bumps into his Mama, and she so  _ excited _ . 

“You did it!” 

She throws him up, up, up- high into the air, and catches him in her arms. He giggles really loud, and gives her a big wet hug. “I did it! I swimmed!” 

“I’m so proud of you Roland. Want to go show Henry and Daddy?” 

He nods a lot, so they get out of the pool and walk over to the big wave pool. 

It’s so big, and so scary. 

Mama told him that a wave is when you’re at the beach, and the sand moves around and the water gets bigger, but they aren’t at a beach, and these waves are huge. 

There’s other kids though, like him, and they’re jumping over the waves as they get littler. He likes that, that looks fun. He’s holding his Mama’s hand really tight, so she doesn’t go anywhere like she did in the middle pool. He doesn’t think he can swim in this pool all by himself. 

Maybe this was a bad idea.

But then he hears Henry say hi, and Papa is there kissing Mama on the cheek. 

“Roland, you’ve got your swimmers on there. Do you want to go in?” 

“Mama call them floaties” he says back, but he can’t stop staring at the big waves crashing. “Papa those waves are too big” he shakes his head. “I’m too little.”

His Papa shakes his head, and then takes his other hand, so now he’s got both of them. He feels a little bit more safe, with his Mama and Papa, but then Henry goes running back to the big waves and he gets scared again. “Henry no! Papa go get him, they’re too big.”

His Papa’s not moving, though, and then the big wave crashes and Henry starts laughing as he swims back toward him and the water drops him off at their feet. 

Well, that looks fun. 

His big brother looks silly like that, all wet and laying on the ground, but Henry’s laughing and Mama and Papa are laughing, so he laughs too. 

“See, my boy, it’s all safe. And even if you get scared, we’ve got ya, okay? We can all go out as a family.” 

“I like that” he nods. “But don’t let go, okay?” 

They walk closer to the waves, and the water gets bigger and bigger but when it crashes, they’re still far away so the water splashes him and makes his tummy all wet, but he isn’t scared anymore. They pick him up and he splashes around in the littlest waves, and he shows his Papa how he learned how to swim so that he can be proud too. 

Maybe holidays are fun after all. 


End file.
